Leveraging SaaS partners to enhance the value for your customers and business

Service as a Software has changed the face of banking, insurance, finance and several other sectors in recent years. However, this software can do much more to enhance customer experience and business operations alike writes Oliver Werneyer, co-founder and CEO, Imburse Payments

Insurance and financial services, like all the other industries, are facing a period of intense and sustained transformation. A barrage of needs and wants from customers, shareholders, competitors, regulators and employees is putting a lot of pressure on companies to transform at many levels, whilst still growing their bottom line. Companies are scrambling to modernise their infrastructure and their products, to compete better and to grow, all while also looking to reduce operating costs and enhance the efficiency of their processes.

Within any company, there are many levels to pull to deliver on these. The level that generally adds the most value is deploying solution providers for services and capabilities that are not considered core. SaaS solution providers offer a particularly attractive proposition that businesses can greatly benefit from, regardless of the industry they operate in. Traditional companies nonetheless still face widespread struggles to navigate all the propositions and alternative solutions which significantly delays their ability to embrace digitalisation, gain global connectivity and operate in both local and international markets.  

Payments, in particular, is a mission critical service for insurers and financial services companies. It is a critical moment of truth for the customers, capable of making or breaking customer trust. Customers are looking for a speedy and seamless payment experience when they make a payment, and even more importantly when they claim. If they are faced with long waiting times, a limited choice of old payment methods and claim options or a complex payment process, they are quick to look for the same service somewhere else. As the market changes and customer demand shifts, insurers must be prepared to adapt and transform quickly. SaaS partners are key in enabling them to modernise and future-proof their existing systems. 

Despite it being absolutely crucial to companies’ success, payments are generally not considered a “core” business area, therefore receiving much less attention than other business areas both in terms of investments and resources. Companies simply don’t feel the need to build dedicated payment teams, cannot attract the best talent in this area and lack the expertise needed to fully leverage the payments area. That is a textbook example area where the right SaaS solutions provider can add immense value to any business. SaaS companies, like Imburse, can offer the best-in-class technology and services in areas that companies may struggle to leverage, such as payments. 

Partnering with a third-party like Imburse means that companies won’t need to allocate valuable resources to payments and can redirect them to other critical business areas. It also means that they can instantly access all the technology needed to fully optimise for their needs and challenges, avoiding the danger of building their own solution that is inferior to readily available market solutions or ending up with an exploding cost of ownership for the solution. The effort and cost involved in building, maintaining and modernising any internal capability will never be as convenient, cost-effective or user-friendly as a SaaS solution that focuses exclusively on providing that set of capabilities. 

SaaS solution providers are also generally topic specialists, so insurers and banks can directly benefit from their resources, experience and expertise. There are many commercial benefits too from partnering with third-party SaaS providers, such as having a reduced cost of ownership, as the service is continually enhanced as well as fully maintained by the third-party involved, and being able to easily adjust service level needs and scale up and down with business needs without impact on internal resourcing and budgets. Ultimately, companies will get faster access to services and technology with minimal turnaround times and the lowest costs, exceed customer expectations and compete better across markets. 

Imburse, as an example of a SaaS solution provider, offers universal connectivity to the global payments ecosystem through one single point of integration. By connecting to the Imburse platform, companies can easily access and deploy all payment providers and methods available in any market. We take care of the integrations and do all the heavy-lifting so that companies can fully leverage payments as a key-value driver without the need for dedicated payment teams or technical debt. Ultimately, companies gain the ability to exceed customer expectations and deliver on business needs by leveraging a future-proof SaaS solution that delivers on all the payment needs that can arise. 

Payments are one of the areas where SaaS providers can really bring value and solve major pain points for companies. Both access to cutting-edge technology as well as knowledge on critical but non-core topics can be more easily accessed and deployed through third-party SaaS solutions for sustainable growth and long-term success. Partnerships with trusted SaaS providers is the necessary stepping stone for companies to stay competitive, expand to other markets and continue leading in customer satisfaction.